Getting to Midtown was a bit of a hike. Typically, Jack would have tried to hitch a ride on the backside of a trolly, or a cart, but since there were seven of them walking, it was a bit hard to find a trolly wide enough to hold all of them hanging from the back. In any case, it gave them all a chance to sell a few lingering newspapers as they walked, each stealing trumped up headlines from the others in a strange ballet of lies.
Finally having sold her last newspaper, Goldie stole Race's hat, plonking it onto her own head before turning to Jack a bit. "I heard there's a new guy in Midtown trying to take over."
Jack nodded, puffing on his cigarette as he tried to keep the directions he'd been given in his head while pondering other things. "Yeah, some kid named Crow Wallace. Him and his sister, Kitty've been causin all kindsa trouble for the Birdsaw's."
"Crow and Kitty? Did they come from a zoo?" Blink wanted to know, his head tilting slightly, before pausing to sell one of his last papes.
"If they did, it's the kind that holds real dangerous animals." Race shrugged, folding his last newspaper and tucking it under his arm to read later. "I've heard some of the Midtown kids I'm friends with talkin about 'em. Crow's the kinda guy that wouldn't hesitate to kill ya if ya get in his way, from what I've heard."
"Bobby Doyle was tellin me his sister, Kitty's real pretty." Crutchy offered.
"Bobby Doyle thinks most girls are real pretty, if he thinks he can get up their skirt." Imp snorted, frustrated by the small stack of newspapers she was still carrying. Imp was not really a natural newsie, and she often failed to sell all of her papers, dumping the ones she was left with onto Blink to sell for her.
"C'mon, guys." Jack interrupted, shaking his head. "This deli's just around the corner. I think."
Goldie laughed, catching up to him, and punching him in the arm. "Ya'd better not be gettin us lost, Cowboy."
Jack frowned at the slight blonde girl, hoping she didn't punch her own beau as "playfully" as she'd just hit him, or Race wasn't going to survive dating her. "I ain't gettin us lost. I see a line out the door just up there. Bettin that's it."
Skittery, who'd been more or less silent the entire walk tilted his head. "What kinda deli is it?"
"A popular one." Race shrugged, catching up to Goldie, slinging his arm around her waist a little possessively.
"No kiddin..." Crutchy whistled slightly, staring at the small line out the door of the shop, which was apparently called Herman's Deli. "German, though, I think."
Skit's voice took on a bit of a whine. "There's a huge line, Jack, and it's gonna take forever, and it's gonna have all kinds of weird food, and why didn't we just go to Tibby's?"
"Ya wanna walk back to Tibby's, then go ahead, Skit. Nobody dragged ya here." Blink smacked Skit on the back of the head before moving to get into the line, rolling up onto his toes in an effort to see over the tops of other people's head so he could see inside.
"Why does everyone do that? I'm gonna get brain damage." Skittery grumbled, getting in line behind Blink, scowling at everyone.
Imp ruffled his hair, squeezing between Skittery and Blink, snuggling against Blink's back a bit. "No more then ya've already suffered, kiddo."
The others joined them, slowly shuffling forward. The line didn't move all that quickly, but everyone who was leaving seemed very happy with their food. Eventually, they made it inside, and were better able to study both the written menu on the wall, and the displays behind glass of the foods on offer.
Jack noted that there were several kind of sausage. Studying them quickly, he decided that a few trips were going to be needed. "Let's all get the same thing, and then come back another day to try another sausage." He suggested out loud.
"Sounds good, Cowboy." Race nodded, peering into the cases. "Which one're we gonna try first?"
"I vote for bratwurst." Skit blurted out, his eyes having fallen on the blutwurst, and he clearly wanted nothing more to do with blood sausages. He'd nearly choked the first time he'd tried it, spitting a big chunk out onto the sidewalk while the others laughed.
"What on earth is -that-?" Goldie had bent over and was staring at a block of something labeled sulze. It was sort of pinkish, and seemed to be filled with chunks of things.
"Head cheese." Crutchy offered, shrugging when Goldie looked up at him, startled. "It looks like head cheese to me, anyway."
"What's head cheese?" Blink tilted his head as they all moved forward in the line a bit.
"Ya cook a whole animal head, and somethin in the bone makes it sorta gel around the chunks of meat. There's more to it then that, but that's kinda the basics." Race explained.
"An just why the hell do ya know that, Racetrack?" Imp demanded, her arms crossing. They were almost the next ones up.
"Grandma used to make it in the summer, on the roof of the buildin where we lived." Was his answer. Goldie shook her head and snuggled against his side, with a look on her face that clearly said she thought the thing looked disgusting.
Jack was about to add his two bits about head cheese when the clerk behind the counter asked for their order. Jack ordered seven bratwurst sandwiches with fixings, hold the kraut on two of them, thanks, extra mustard on one of the one with kraut. There was a moment of huddle when everyone put in their money before Jack forked over a bit more then they would have all paid at Tibby's, and moved down the line a bit to pick up their sandwiches.
There were a few tables in the place, but they were all full, so the group filed back outside, and wandered a bit in the direction of a small local park so enjoy their sandwiches. They had taken so long in the shop that the lunch crowds were gone by the time they got there, and they had their pick of benches, choosing two near a pond. Crutchy and Skit settled on one of them, Imp and Blink on the other, while Jack sat down on the grass, leaning back against a nearby tree, and Goldie and Race sat near the bank of the pond. All were silent for a bit, while each pondered their sausages.
Skit was the first to pipe up. "Better then Tibby's. I like the spices."
"Bit too dense. And I like sauerkraut and all, but it's kinda overwhelming..." Goldie pouted.
"I still think Tibby's is better." Crutchy had already finished his sandwich, and was tossing the last of the bread to the ducks in the pond.
"I'm with Crutchy." Imp nodded, doing the same with the last of her bread.
"I thought the sausage yesterday was the best, but no one's listening to me." Race grumbled, but Jack noted that he finished his sausage anyway.
Blink was quiet for a moment as he finished his sausage, before shrugging. "I think it's better then the sausage yesterday, but not better then Tibby's. And it was a hell of a lot better then that place the day before."
"Tibby's is still in the lead, then." Jack agreed, finishing his own sandwich, tossing the last bit of bread to the ducks.
"Hey, I was wonderin, are we only countin sausages cooked in sandwiches like these, or are dried sausages part of this whole deal?" Race wanted to know, "Because there's a shop I know that makes some killer salami. And ya can eat it in a sandwich."
"Well..." Jack tilted his head a bit, pulling his cowboy hat up to shade his eyes a bit. "We were questionin the idea that Tibby's had the best sausages. No one ever said what kind of sausage..."
"But they're not the same kinda sausage. They're dried and sliced. Next thing we know, we'll be countin smoked meat in general, and that ain't sausage at all." Imp complained, pouting slightly. Jack suspected she just didn't like salami.
"But they -are- sausages, Imp." Goldie bristled slightly in defense of her beau's question.
"But ya don't eat 'em in the same way..." Blink was clearly struggling to reason with the dilemma, as he had that perplexed look he got when he was thinking too hard. "So do they count as the same kinda statement about sausages?"
"I think if we start askin about smoked and sliced sausages, we're just askin for a whole new kettle of fish." Crutchy shrugged, trying to pacify the group.
"Do they make fish sausages?" Goldie wanted to know, her head tilting slightly, causing Imp to groan and throw her wrapper at the blonde girl.
"Guys, guys! For right now, lets agree that when we say sausages, we're talkin about this kind, the warm, grilled or steamed kind, ok?" Jack didn't think he could handle another addition to his system of delis and sandwich carts.
Race, clearly, did not agree, but he also clearly knew he was going to be overruled. He just crossed his arms and scowled a bit. "As long as we address the issue of sandwich meats at a later date."
"Once we've established who's got the best sausages, we'll tackle the issue of sandwich meats. Agreed?" Jack knew it was a small victory, but a victory none the less.
"Agreed." Came Race's grudging reply, followed by the others, echoing agreement.
"Good. Tibby's still at the top. Now, that Polish place around the corner from the lodgin house is supposed to be openin tomorrow. Do we want to try there for lunch?" Jack got to his feet, throwing away his wrapper.
"Oh! Kielbasa! I like kielbasa." Goldie nearly bounced as she also got to her feet, collecting her wrapper as well as Race's, throwing them away.
"Goldie, I think you just like food..." Imp shook her head as Blink once again, managed to throw first his, and then Imp's wrappers into the rubbish bin without getting up.
"I'm all for it." Crutchy nodded, and tossed aside his wrapper away with the others, and started hobbling down the path towards the entrance of the park. Jack joined him, Skittery trailing behind, nodding his agreement about lunch plans in his typical, sullenly silent way, his wrapper joining the others in the bin.
Imp and Blink hurried to catch up, leaving Race and Goldie by the pond.
"I think salami should count." Race grumbled once the others were out of earshot.
"I know, hun. But they ain't the same kinda sausage. The others have a point..." Goldie sat back down next to him, putting her head on his shoulder.
"It's sausage discrimination, is what it is. And it ain't right." Race was sulking, and Goldie knew better then to try to convince him to agree with the others. Instead, she just sat with him, with her head on his shoulder, against his side until he stopped being so grumpy, and the two of them could walk back to the lodging house.
As she expected, it took awhile.
Author's Note: The saga continues! I feel like I'm channeling the best of several things I love: Bizarre Foods and No Reservations, and Newsies! :D Look out, weird deli foods, I'm going to have these poor kids interact with all of you! While a newsie turf war rages in the background. What? I can't be all silly, all the time.